In many regions of the world, particularly, for example, in the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast regions as well as other regions of the western United States, extensive reservoirs of deep, geopressured saline waters, or brines, that are saturated with natural gas, i.e., methane, are present. Such brines exist in large formations of geopressured tertiary sandstones which contain huge aquifers at depths typically from a few thousand feet to over 25,000 feet. The particular aquifers in the above geographical regions are characterized by relatively high pressures which, for example, can be as much as twice the normally expected pressures in other aquifers at a comparable depth and may be characterized by relatively high temperatures of the order of 150.degree. C. or greater. The geological conditions of such aquifers tend to favor the formation of methane gas from the organic matters present.
The methane gas content which is dissolved in such brines has been estimated to be approximately 1.0 cu. ft./gal. of water, recent tests showing that in exemplary regions 40 to 50 cubic feet of methane is dissolved in each barrel of water taken from an exploratory well at a depth of 16,500 feet.
United States geological surveys have reported that the geopressured salt water in onshore reservoirs of this nature may contain as much as 24,000 trillion cubic feet of methane and it has been further estimated that even more gas may be found offshore. In fact, one estimate has indicated that the geopressured gas reserves of the entire Gulf of Mexico region may be more than 100,000 trillion cubic feet, an amount which could go far toward solving the problem of energy shortage if such reserves can be appropriately developed.